Category Archives: Beauty

Jan 08, 2019

Mrs. Box by Jose Villa

(Image by Jose Villa for Mrs. Box)

So, the holidays are a huge time for engagements- and maybe you are one of the lucky ones who received one of these beauties. Now, it’s time to be getting back to work and out and about to be sharing the good news and showing off your new piece. We’ve asked our Cos Bar resident beauty expert, Kori Mahoney for her favorite products and advice on keeping your hands and nails show off ready as the temps have finally dropped!

Tara Guerard Soiree by Elizabeth Messina

(Image by Elizabeth Messina)

For starters, using a coarse hand scrub (like the Cle de Peau Beaute body exfoliator or La Mer Body Refiner available here) to smooth the skin and get rid of any flakiness followed with a nice, non-greasy hand cream. There are so many hand cream options available, so it’s really up to you as far as what you like in terms of texture and fragrance.

Tara Guerard Soiree by Corbin Gurkin

(Image by Corbin Gurkin)

Look for those containing anti-aging benefits such as Vitamin C or sunscreen (even in winter months)! Kori recommends hand cream by Omorovicza and Rich Girl Broad Spectrum by Deborah Lippmann. Reapplying throughout the day, especially after hand washing is key. Sleeping in cotton gloves while wearing hand cream underneath can soothe severely dry skin.

Tara Guerard Soiree by Elizabeth Messina

(Image by Elizabeth Messina)

Don’t forget the nails! A manicure is where your personality can really shine through. We recommend a classic pale pink (such as Essie’s “Ballet Slippers”) for your wedding day, but you might choose a chic red nail for the early days of engagement (I LOVE the name of this Bobbi Brown- Scotch on the Rocks!). Have fun with it and remember that your hands will be in many of your wedding day shots. Have your nails done professionally for your special day and make sure to take your color and a fresh topcoat along with you in case of an accidental chip.

Tara Guerard Soiree by Corbin Gurkin

(Image by Corbin Gurkin)

1.08.19   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Accessories, Beauty, Bridal, Bridal Style, Fashion, Photographers, Weddings | Comments >>

photo by Corbin Gurkin

Many times we focus so much on our brides and bridesmaids’ fashion pieces that the Mothers of the Brides and Grooms can get overlooked… After recently scouring through our photos from the past year or two of weddings we realized that we have some pretty knock out stylish “moms” as well, so we wanted to share a little glimpse of the other fashionable wedding day ladies.  The mother of the bride above went with a stunning cape sleeved sheath gown from Oscar de la Renta for her daughters’ winter lowcountry wedding.

photo by Perry Vaile

For a spring time affair at Palmetto Bluff, this mother of the bride complimented the bridesmaids’ gowns with a hand painted ball skirt gown from Kate McDonald.

photo by Adrienne Page

Here the mother of the groom awaits her escort down the aisle, in a fabulous blue gown not quite off the shoulders and gorgeously tailored.

photo by Liz Banfield

For this Charleston wedding, our mother of the bride chose a strapless gown by Oscar de le Renta, but with a matching wrap. Perfect for a church ceremony if modesty is a concern, and for the unpredictable evening temps here in the Spring… This brides’ color palette was a pale pink and green, so I love the brighter pink as a nod to that palette.

photo by Corbin Gurkin

At the rehearsal for our Newport, RI wedding, the mother of the groom waits and watches looking (like Meryl Streep, don’t you think) effortlessly chic before the rehearsal diner.

photo by Liz Banfield

I love this bold color choice by Romona Keveza (styled by Julie Sabatino) worn by our mother of the groom for a summertime Charleston fete.  Love the new movement for mothers wearing color, it’s a celebration, and when appropriate can be a perfectly stunning selection.

As far as flowers or “corsages” go for our clients, we’ve found that many don’t wish to pin something onto their Couture gowns… So, we have been either crafting miniature bouquets for them to carry, or flowers that can attach to a clutch, or ones even affixed to ribbon that can be tied onto their wrists as an accessory.

1.29.18   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Beauty, Bridal Style, Dresses, Fashion, Flowers, Photographers, Shopping, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>

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We’ve recently had several of our brides mix and match bridesmaids dresses in completely unexpected and super fashion forward ways. It helps of course, that they are in the Bridal design business… So, we asked the ladies of Dee Hutton (both recent brides and business partners, whose weddings were featured in the current issue of Brides Magazine) for their top tips on how to pull a mix and match bridal party off successfully.  All the images are Corbin Gurkin.

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We’ve always disliked the word “bridesmaid dress” or “maid of honor dress”. If you think about it, in any other context, if you went up to someone and said “wow, what a beautiful bridesmaid dress” or “you make such a beautiful bridesmaid”, it’s almost an insult…We think that bridesmaid lines should be about making the most important girls in your life look & feel their best. In our opinion, the goal is to have them get the compliment “wow, you look beautiful” not “wow, you’re a beautiful bridesmaid”.

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To be honest, control is key to pull off a high fashion different bridesmaid line. Being comfortable saying yes or no and giving hard guidelines is important to achieve a flawless high fashion bridesmaid line. Traditional bridesmaid dresses and the ease that goes around that process is there for a reason, so with all the moving parts that go into a wedding, make sure you really care about spending the time and effort to have your bridesmaid line make a splash because it does take a bit more work.

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Pinterest can be your best friend in wedding planning but especially in this department. Finding an image of a bridal party that you love & want to re-create is super helpful because then you’ll have an image to pass along to your bridesmaids so they know exactly what you’re trying to achieve, and it will be even easier to assign colors/fabrics etc and achieve the look you’re going for when everyone’s on the same page.

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The bridesmaid line that I designed for my wedding is very different from the one I designed for Steph’s wedding. For mine, I basically wanted to take the traditional idea of a bridesmaid line and turn it on its head. I really wanted it to feel like an incredible runway show, with each piece being a surprise and different from the one before & after. Because I mixed fabrics and put everyone in a different color, making sure that all the different shades of colors went together beautifully was incredibly important. I focused on making each bridesmaid look incredible independently and as a group. To pull this off, assigning each bridesmaid a color would be my suggestion and then as each girl finalizes their dress, create a mock version of your bridesmaid line using pictures of their dresses to make sure that it’s all coming together ok. Not only will  that incentivize ladies to get moving on choosing their dresses, but it also allows them to find a dress that they are obsessed with and would wear again to a black tie party. For me, the bridesmaids and their gowns were the wow factor of my wedding and stood out because there was no other color worked in to the decor.

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Steph’s wedding was more traditional as Steph is very traditional in nature. Her wedding was based around the idea of pastels, so I took the idea of a traditional pastel hued all chiffon bridesmaid line and blew it up to feel like a collection of gowns that a designer was showing together. Each style was different and all the bridesmaids walked down in a line starting with a bright mint, to ice mint, to blues, to periwinkles to lavenders and then finally to pinks (it was a beautiful gradation of colors). To re-create this, I would again assign colors but also pick one fabric that all the dresses are in (i.e. silk chiffon etc). I wanted Steph’s bridesmaids to fit seamlessly with the decor of her wedding/reception tent and just be an extension of the pastel wonderland aesthetic that she was going for.

6.06.17   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Beauty, Bridal, Bridal Style, Dresses, Event Design, Fashion, New York, Weddings | Comments >>